12.45pm update

Four charged over Kenya bombing

A Kenyan court today charged four men with 13 counts of murder in connection with a terrorist attack that killed at least 10 Kenyans and three Israeli tourists.

The suspects showed no emotion as the charges and names of the Kenyans and Israelis who were killed in the attack, on Mombasa airport on November 28 last year, were read out.

The four Kenyans charged - Said Saggar Ahmed, Aboud Rogo Mohammed, Kubwa Mohamed and his son Mohamed Kubwa - were not asked to enter a plea because some prosecution documents were not prepared.

They were remanded in custody and will appear before the magistrates' court again on July 8.

In the November attack, assailants attempted to shoot down a chartered Israeli jet with shoulder-fired missiles as it was taking off from the airport at Mombasa, on the Kenyan coast.

The missiles narrowly missed their intended target. Within a few minutes, suicide bombers blew up a car packed with explosives outside a beachfront hotel popular with Israelis. Ten Kenyans and three Israelis were killed along with as the bombers.

At least three of the four suspects are allegedly connected to a man suspected of being Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, an alleged al-Qaida operative and prime suspect in the November attack, as well as the 1998 bombing of the US embassy in Nairobi.

Both attacks have been blamed on Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network.

Aboud Rogo Mohammed, an Islamic teacher, Kubwa Mohamed, a trader, and Mohamed Kubwa, a town councillor, were earlier this year charged with harbouring an illegal alien, known as Abdul Karim, who was thought to be Fazul Abdullah Mohammed.

New evidence uncovered by the investigation led them to be charged with murder, officials have said.

The fourth suspect, Mr Ahmed, was first held by police last month, and was also charged with harbouring an illegal alien, said the suspects' lawyer, Maobe Mao. Mr Mao was unable to identify the illegal alien, but said that it was not Abdul Karim.

Mr Ahmed was then released on bail, but was held by police again in Mombasa yesterday, in connection with the murder charges, Mr Mao said.

In March, Mohamed Kubwa told the Associated Press that Aboud Rogo Mohammed had introduced his family to the man known as Abdul Karim early last year, and took him to the family home in Siyu, a town on Pate island near Somalia.

Abdul Karim married Mohamed Kubwa's half-sister, Amina, and taught at an Islamic school in Siyu before disappearing earlier this year, Mr Kubwa said.

Investigators have told the Associated Press that both Mohamed Kubwa and Amina identified Abdul Karim as Fazul Abdullah Mohamed, a native of the Indian Ocean island nation of Comoros, who also has Kenyan citizenship.

Abdul Karim's whereabouts are not know, but last month Kenyan authorities said they believed that Fazul Abdullah Mohammed - listed on the FBI's most wanted list - may have returned to Kenya from Somalia.

The four men were charged amid renewed warnings of a terrorist attack in the East African nation, and pressure from US officials on Kenyan authorities to hunt down terrorists suspects.

The US embassy closed on Friday, and will remain closed until at least today. Air traffic between Kenya and neighbouring Somalia has been halted after the Pentagon raised the terrorism threat level in Kenya to high.

Somalia, a Muslim nation that has not had an effective government since its last president was ousted in 1991, is believed to be a transit point and staging ground for al-Qaida operatives working in eastern Africa.

A US district court indicted Fazul Abdullah Mohammed in the 1998 US embassy bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The Nairobi bombing killed 219 people, including 12 Americans. 12 people were killed in the Tanzania bombing.